Blackwood Abbey
by smallfrye11
Summary: A story of a cursed family and the girl destined to bear it all upon her shoulders.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

People are the single most destructive force this planet has ever seen. One often wonders why we put up with ourselves and the havoc we reek. Or why God doesn't just wipe us all out and start fresh. Perhaps He shouldn't have saved Noah and all those people when He flooded the world. Just put all the animals on the ark and forget the humans. But He didn't and here we are.

The world is on the brink. Wars, riots, mayhem. We are on the verge of social and political revolution every day. Yet here I sit day by day, stuck in a prison not of my own making. Apart from it all, forced to endure this solitude made of stone walls and iron fences. The decision was never mine to remain here. The choice was made long before I was born that I would be trapped here, forever bound by God's will to live within these walls till the day I die.

Blackwood Abbey. A sprawling estate of 12 acres in the wilds of Maine. All of it undeveloped and wild as nature intended save for the Abbey. A gothic mansion of epic proportions, with countless rooms, multiple libraries , a chapel, a solarium, extensive gardens and its own cemetery. A thing of beauty that seemingly appeared overnight in the woods circa 1633. This place has stood for more than three hundred years and the Savage family has lived here for just as long. Lived probably isn't the best word. We've been entombed here, cursed to be caretakers of this monstrosity. Most people would laugh to hear me say that. How is it a curse to live in a mansion, filled with comforts and splendors beyond your wildest imagination?

Within these hallowed walls lie the very darkest souls of humanity. Souls unworthy of God's forgiveness, souls who have committed sins blacker than the night. They shed the blood of the innocent and damned themselves. Their souls are then sent to Blackwood. Some for eternity, some not. And the Savages? We must care for them, we are the wardens of their prison. We hold the keys to their cages and every moment spent within these walls those souls plot their escape. Plot our deaths as the means of their freedom. We are the caretakers of the Vault of Heaven, the keepers of Purgatory's worst, and the sentinels of humanity. Without us, this world would burn. And just how did we, the noble Savage family, come to bear this burden from God? Why is our family cursed to protect the world and live apart from it? To spend every day mired in the darkest parts of hell and humanity for all time?

A schmuck named Elah Savage. The idiot fourth son of a shipwright with no ambition or goals. He fell in love with the daughter of the richest man in he couldn't seem to get her attention. No need to wonder why. He was the idiot fourth son of a shipwright and she was the pampered princess of the richest man in town. Desperate to have her love, without even bothering to ask if the girl wanted him back, he sold his soul to the devil. Quite literally. Somehow he found a manuscript, detailing on how to summon the devil and make a deal. So he does it. He sells his soul to Satan in exchange for the pretty girl he fancied himself in love with. They were married in a whirlwind and Elah was happy. For a time. Then the idiot fourth son of a shipwright found out something crucial : he'd sold his soul to marry a vain shrew and the devil was about to come collecting. His wife that he was madly in love with? Wanted nothing more than what he could give her, which wasn't much since riches were not a part of his deal with Satan. So when the hellhounds were coming for him, when he could hear them growling in the forest at night, hungry for his soul, he ran to a church. He went to his knees before the altar and screamed for God's help. For God to save him from Satan and the hellhounds that were going to tear his soul to shreds and drag it back to hell to be tortured for eternity. And Elah's bad luck got worse because God answered.

As legend has it an angel descended from the ceiling and made a deal with Elah. God would deliver him from his deal with the devil. But it did not come without a price as nothing ever does. In return, he would become the steward of a new home that God was building, that he would take care of its inhabitants. And his family would be bound to do the same until they had earned His forgiveness for Elah's actions. For Elah had sold his soul like one does a pair of shoes. And what did the idiot do? He said yes, and damned the rest of us for his mistakes. He still hadn't learned to read the fine print. God had made him the steward of a prison for the damned, a vault for all the occult and dangerous objects of the world, and a cage for the monsters of earth and hell. He would be the caretaker of demons, despots and murderers. And so would the rest of us.

So at 26 I have taken on Elah's role as caretaker of Blackwood Abbey. I have had little choice in this matter, as my mother has died and neither my brother, my sister, or any of my cousins, aunts or uncles will take my place. As a rule the caretaker of Blackwood Abbey doesn't live a long life. How can one live for very long when the house you live in tries to kill you and thirsts for your blood? My mother died at 50. If I still prayed to God, I would pray that he wouldn't torture me for that long. But I don't pray. I can only hope I don't die in the same bloody, and gruesome manner Mama did.

From the diary of Prosperity Lee Savage, circa 1968


	2. Chapter 2

Sundays were supposed to be peaceful. A day for going to church and being with family. A break from the day to day grind. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Bull-frickin-shit.

Verity pumped her legs faster down the hallway, almost losing her balance on the slippery marble floor. Her breathing was labored, her lungs screaming from the abuse but she couldn't stop. Behind her explosions rang out like she was in the middle of Baghdad during a raid. She had to get down to the foyer. A pillar exploded beside her from some unknown force, marble pebbles and debris flying at her and hitting her in the face. She ignored them. Screams and haunting moans sounded from behind her. Don't look back stupid, keep running.

Eyes streaming from the smoke now billowing down the hallway, the noxious fumes making her cough as she struggled for air, Verity skidded on the marble, missing the stairway downstairs. She completely lost her balance, unable to regain her step and slammed into the wall beside a large granite bust. The wind knocked out of her, she only just managed to roll out of the way as the bust came crashing down. Almost killed by a bust of Machiavelli. How droll. She tried to laugh and it came out as a ragged cough. Then she made a stupid looked at what had been chasing her.

Black smoke filled the hallway, billowing in what should have been non existent wind and black ooze thick like oil seeping out onto to the floors ahead of it. Blood red sparks shooting out from nowhere, scorching the walls where they hit. And in the middle of all of it, coming towards her with inhuman speed at a towering ten feet tall was a man. Or at least the physical form of a man. In truth it was a monster. It was comprised of the smoke and ooze, teeth rotting, tongue half eaten through by some sort of virus. The thing roared at her, it's yellow eyes wild with rage as it came for her.

"Shit, shit, shit" she breathed anxiously as she scrambled up from the floor and made a beeline for the stair case. The monster roared, and grabbed a bench, hurling it towards her. Verity screamed in surprised and hit the floor , covering her head with her arms. The bench exploded into thousands of splinters, falling all around her. "That was a nineteenth century Shaker bench you haunting hour reject!" she screamed. The monster bellowed in response. Yea, that was intelligent. Groaning in pain she pushed herself up, screaming as shards of wood stabbed her hands and bare legs making her bleed. Don't run around in your night gown idiot and it wouldn't be a problem, she berated herself. Her thigh length cotton nightgown with the goldfish print wasn't exactly ideal for being chase by a giant smoke monster through a house with recently waxed floors.

Verity finally found the stairway she needed and felt the change in temperature as she went from cold marble floors to warm oak wood. Still too far. "Solomon!" she screamed "It's right behind me!" Please be ready Solomon. Her legs were burning and she was quickly running out of steam. And if this didn't work there was no back up plan. That thing would escape the Abbey and be released into the outside world.

Another unintelligible roar and she could smell how close it was. Brimstone and garbage. Disgusting. Another sharp left and she could see the main foyer. There was Solomon. Verity breathed a huge sigh of relief and instantly regretted the fumes she inhaled when she did. Coughing she flew into the foyer, and turned to face the blackness. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Solomon, tall and stalwart, ready and waiting with the matches in his hand. Now just to get the disgusting oily smoke thing to walk into a near obvious trap. She just hoped it wasn't all that smart.

"Hey! You smell! Take a goddamn shower why don't you?" she shouted at it.

" A shower? Honestly Verity" Somehow she heard Solomon's crisp, quiet voice through the roaring of the poisonous wind.

The monster still ran for her. Probably because she had pissed it off. The beast wanted freedom in a bad way, and she and Solomon were the only things standing in its way. Two tiny humans in between it and utter freedom. Yep , I'm gonna die. "You want out ugly? You gotta go through me!"

He roared again and burst through the entry way scattering wood and plaster everywhere. With a sigh, Verity braced herself. The ugly thing seemed hell bent on destroying the house on it's way out. The ooze monster swung an arm and Verity went flying through the air landing twenty feet away on her back. Coughing up blood she pushed herself up again. Evil laughter rang in her ears and through her swollen eyes she could see it coming for her again. The mad glee in its eyes chilled her blood as it seeped out of her nose and mouth. One more step. She willed it to come toward her. Finish me off.

It stepped toward her and a miracle happened. The beast was stuck. It was almost comical how it tugged and pulled at its feet but they remained glue to the floor. The beast screamed and bellowed but to no avail. It remained firmly in that spot.

Groaning in pain, Verity forced herself up. "Thats right. You're not going anywhere but back into your cell. Now!" she shouted to Solomon. He dropped a match on the floor and the holy oil they had laid out on the floor lighted and soon the creature was encircled by holy fire. The flames burned bright white and its evil couldn't cross it. Verity pulled the amulet she wore around her neck out, swinging it from her finger tauntingly. Solomon started a chant, very powerful and ancient. The creature heard it and saw her amulet and it's struggle to get free increased. "We've got your number jackass." Verity wrapped the gold chain around her hand, holding the blood ruby out towards the monster as Solomon continued the chant. The air grew cold as the monster screamed in anguish. Ash, oil and smoke started to funnel itself toward the amulet, the force of it driving Verity back. It was like being hit by a semi. Her breathing ragged, she refused to back down. "Get your ugly, smelly ass out of my house."

Solomon was shouting the chant now over the roaring of the wind as piece by slimy piece the monster was absorbed into the amulet. The screams were unbearable, the wind shrieking and swirling around them. The creature was trying to fight, pounding the wall of holy fire in a desperate effort to get free. Nice try creep. If I can't escape this place neither can you. The air grew colder making Verity's eyes stream with tears. She felt herself sliding back from the force of the wind but she held her aching, bleeding arms out determined to get rid of this evil. The roaring of the wind was almost unbearable, the pressure crushing. She couldn't even see anything anymore. Verity smelled the monster as the pieces were absorbed into the amulet, felt the cold of the whipping wind and heard Solomon's desperate shouts. Then with a final shockwave that tossed her off her feet and into the oak door everything went eerily quiet. The silence was deafening. It was done. The monster had been returned to his cell.

Her blood seeped out on the floor and the cold surrounded her. She barely felt Solomon shaking her, could hardly hear his voice calling her name. She welcomed the blackness that enveloped her. I'm free. She smiled as her heart stopped.


End file.
